31 July 2009

For about the past three weeks, I've been doing a bit of remodeling in the bathroom. Took down some old linoleum from the ceiling (don't ask) that was curling badly, and put up some tileboard comprised of 4x4 gloss white tiling on top of what looks like the same material as regular pegboard. The ad copy says it's optimal for use in bathrooms, over showers, etc. Installed two new bath fans --- a light/fan over the shower and a light/fan/heat over the main bath area --- so we are now moving 180 cubic feet of air per minute ! Had a little trouble with the wiring for these but once I figured out with an AC tester that one of the white wires was being used as a hot wire (it was never marked as such with black electrical tape per code), it was pretty routine. Working up in the cramped attic recesses was a chore, though, and hot.

So yes. Three weeks. Not quite what I imagined, but we've had some delay with the continuing rain (which means you can't cut the tileboard on the table saw outside) and the continuing pattern of having to deal with some of the realities of having had a Dutch carpenter, for measuring and cutting purposes. Other than that, it was small preparation work; small but necessary, doing what I can where/when I can. Spackling some holes in the walls, some larger than others. Took out some bad Sheetrock near the shower head and replaced it with Durock ® cement board. Put up the new shower head and curtain rod. Three trips to Lowe's / Home Depot, which usually turns into half a day in itself. I swear, shopping for materials is more draining than doing the actual work.

Yesterday, I picked out the new toilet and pedestal sink and faucet, wax ring, stainless steel flex tubing... but before any of that comes the white 12"x12" tile that is comprised of a mesh of 2"x2" matte tiles. They were the closest consistency I could find to the tileboard. I want to stick as closely to the vision as I can... you know, the one where you can close your eyes and see how things should be, should look, should function. The idea was to go with something more permanent, more solid than the linoleum or vinyl flooring. Took out the vanity sink tonight. Will take out the toilet tomorrow morning and get going on mapping out the tile. One of the nice things about the 2"x2" grid work is that when you get to the toilet pipe and the sink drain, you can cut out a few squares rather than have to fire up a tile saw, hole saw, or use the tile nippers. The area to be tiled isn't that large --- about 5'x5' but this is my first experience with tile. Seems pretty straightforward, though, and I have done my fair share of masonry work, so I'm not too worried.